


I Might Have a Thing for Kittens

by RennyO



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Tony is ruining everything, bucky barnes and kittens, need i say more?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 17:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3455738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RennyO/pseuds/RennyO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony's birthday is today, and Pepper employs all the Avengers (minus Thor who's dealing with Asgardian politics) to help decorate for the surprise party. Banner's decorating with Pepper, and Steve's doing all the heavy lifting and helping Pepper. Natasha and Clint will be arriving late because they got held up in Bolivia (don't ask why), and Bucky's supposed to be distracting Tony. However, things don't go as smoothly as planned because, well, kittens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Might Have a Thing for Kittens

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I saw a bland marvel head cannon, and this just sort of happened.

"Alright," Pepper's voice cuts through the evening chatter and everyone turns to look at her.  
"Natasha and Clint are held up in Bolivia, so I'll need Banner to help with decorating instead of distracting Tony. He usually doesn't expect much from me for his birthday, so keeping him away shouldn't be too hard, but he's still a suspicious person," she pauses, smiling at them before glancing back down at her clipboard, "Steve is still going to help move the furniture, but I need Bucky to take Bruce's job of distracting Tony."  
This elicits a few grumbled complaints from around the table, but no one flat out says no to the new arrangement.  
Bucky does pale a little as his name is said, and he looks at Steve helplessly, "How am I supposed to distract Tony Stark?"  
Steve slings an arm comfortingly around Bucky's shoulders, not quite sure how to respond.  
Luckily, Pepper overheard Bucky's question and says, "He's been wanting to make a few adjustments to your arm for a while. Something about improving the nerve receptors, and adding something so your shoulder won't be sore where the prosthetic starts."  
Bucky brightens up at that. Even though he'll still have to talk one on one with someone besides Steve (despite being away from Hydra for so long, he's still a bit rusty and awkward in the people department), he's actually excited for getting an update for his arm. Tony had done some major upgrades on it when Steve had first found him, but it still had a few flaws in it, especially where the metal and flesh met.  
Pepper sits down at the large table and sips her coffee, waiting for everyone to finish eating.  
"I still can't believe were doing all this for his birthday," Bucky tells Steve.  
"Where's Tony now?" Bruce asks, walking over to the sink to rinse off his plate.  
Right on cue, Tony walks into the kitchen, whistling.  
"Green guy, any chance you want to help me fix up my suit? I've been trying to make it resistant to radioactivity, but all I end up doing is melting lots of prototypes and possibly giving everyone in the tower cancer."  
"Speak of the devil," Bucky mumbles under his breath, watching Pepper hand Tony a plate with a slice of pizza, and a glass of water.  
The amount of food Stark Tower consumes each day could probably feed the whole city of New York for a year; Two super soldiers alone can polish off a large deep dish each.  
"Actually, I needed to run to the hospital to check on a few patients," Bruce says mildly.  
Banner works in the hospital lab, trying to find different treatments using radiation. Although Fury thinks Bruce and radiation are the worst thing that could be possible and Tony finds it hilariously ironic, Bruce religiously goes to the lab five days a week, even if it's only for a couple of hours.  
"How about you take a break from that project and help Bucky with his arm?" Pepper suggests.  
Tony nods, tilting his glass of water in Bucky's direction.  
Bucky bites lip, trying to quell the sense of panic. Why does he have to talk to people? If Natasha were here when she said she would, he wouldn't have to do the whole social thing with Tony.  
The group quickly finishes their dinner, and help Pepper with the dishes before she shoo's them away with some excuse or another. While Tony leads a nervous Bucky downstairs to his lab, Pepper herds everyone upstairs to decorate for the party.  
Bucky scowls as he tries to organize his thoughts. It's not like he's having sex with Tony. He's just talking with him for an hour or two while Pepper sets up. Oh crap. He's screwed. An hour or two of talking alone with someone other than Steve. He doesn't realize Tony's talking to him until he says, "--got that, Grandpa?"  
Bucky blinks rapidly, trying to hide his confusion and failing miserably.  
Tony sighs, "So hearing really does go first. Sit up on the table, I'll take a look at your arm. JARIVS?"  
"Yes sir?"  
"Bring up all Bucky Barnes' measurements and all the info I have on his newest prosthetic."  
"Yes sir. I'll put them up on the main screen."  
"Thanks," Tony says absentmindedly.  
He looks at Bucky sitting on the steel table.  
"Shirt off."  
Bucky has never felt so confused in his life. His features are arranged in a clear "What?" expression.  
"I'm not asking you to cheat on Rogers, genius. I need to get a better look at your arm," he explains.  
Bucky blushes, and quickly takes off his old sweatshirt and t-shirt underneath.  
After a few minutes, Bucky zones out once it's obvious that Tony isn't going to talk to him, just to JARVIS.  
After an hour or so, Tony finally stops prodding and groans in boredom.  
"Okay, I'm done. Let's go do something fun."  
Oh crap. Bucky needs to say something. Now. Anything to distract him.  
"Uhhhhh," is all he can come up with.  
Brilliant. Why isn't he helping decorate and Banner doing the distracting?  
"Do you have any movies I haven't watched?" he finally blurts out.  
Stark looks at him like he's crazy. Well, nothing new there.  
"Yeah. Why the sudden interest? I thought you like catching up on all the books you missed instead of the movies?"  
Bucky shrugs, and prays Stark will go along with it.  
Tony stares at him a while longer before asking "JARVIS, hook up netflix in Bucky's room; We're going to introduce him to some quality TV shows."  
The two of them walk out of Tony's lab, and head down a different set of stairs to get into the living quarters. Despite numerous protests from almost everyone on the team, every avenger was given their own room and bathroom in Stark tower. Although Tony wanted to give everyone their own floor, the others drew the line at their own rooms. When Steve found Bucky, he never asked Tony about Bucky getting his own room, and Bucky moved into Steve's.  
After Tony indoctrinates Bucky in the best shows, he gets bored again, tells Bucky he'll be back in a flash, and leaves. Bucky freaks out and almost calls Steve to tell him that Tony knows something's up, but, true to his word (for once) Tony comes back into Bucky's room. Only, he's not alone. 

*******************************************************

Steve's dragging a huge trash bag full of boxes that were used to smuggle in all the party supplies when Pepper's frantic voice spews from the speakers, "Why is Tony coming upstairs?!"  
Steve drops the bag of trash in the hall without bothering to check if anything spilled, and sprints into the stairwell. For most people, Tony Stark's elevator would have taken them down the three floors to the living quarters faster than running down the stairs, but for Steve the stairs take him less than 13 seconds before he reaches the appropriate floor. He vaults over the last handrail in the stairwell and sprints through the door and down the hallway.  
"Bucky!! Where's Tony?!" Steve frantically calls, barging into his and Bucky's room.  
Bucky's sitting criss-cross on the floor, with no Tony in sight. He looks up at Steve, eyes wide. Steve's eyes immediately fall to the fluffy cotton-like ball snuggled in Bucky's arms. Bucky has one kitten sleeping in his arms, another meowing in his lap, and a third crawling up the front of his shirt.  
He blinks rapidly, his hands falling to the floor. The white, sleeping cat tumbles onto the thick carpet, hissing before curling up next to the other, darker ball of fur on Bucky's legs.  
"Uh," is all Bucky manages, starting to blush.  
"Bucky! You were supposed to keep Tony off the top floor so he wouldn't see the party!"  
Realization hits Bucky as he glances around the room and sees that Tony's missing.  
He grimaces, and let's out a surprised "Oh."  
Steve moans, falling back against the wall. He slides down to the floor, groaning "Pepper's going to kill me."  
Steve closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, "She's really going to kill me."  
Bucky's eyes widen, "You think she's going to kill you? You weren't the one who was supposed to keep Tony locked away."  
Steve cracks his eyelids apart, and starts laughing at Bucky's terrified expression.  
"So, how exactly did you get tied up with kittens?" Steve asks, shaking his head.  
"I was keeping him busy like you asked, but I think he figured something was up. I'm not that good at hiding things anymore," Bucky shrugs apologetically, "And then he said Pepper had done some stuff for the Humane Society and something about fostering cats, and, well...he shoved kittens in my face, and then said he was going downstairs to work on some upgrades for his suit."  
Steve laughs, "You got distracted by kittens?"  
Steve would never admit it, but he's actually relieved that Bucky finally got distracted by something. Even though it's been a little under a year since he'd found Bucky, he still worries constantly that he's not fully adjusted. But this proves it. The Winter Soldier would never allow himself to be distracted by anything when given a mission, and the fact that Bucky didn't notice Tony slipping out means Bucky's really his old (with a few quirks) self.  
Bucky nods in answer to Steve's question.  
Steve sighs and stands up, offering Bucky a hand. Bucky takes it, carefully scooping up the two kittens in his lap with one hand and holding them close to his chest. Steve gently pries the black kitten climbing Bucky's shirt off him, and holds it carefully with both hands.  
"Come on, Buck. Tony probably already found out about the party, but we still need to tell Pepper what happened," he says, smiling.  
Bucky nods, hesitating before asking, "Where are we supposed to put the kittens?"  
Steve laughs, and walks over to the carrier tucked in the corner of their room.  
"Tony must've left this here from when he first brought them."  
The two of them carefully deposit the tiny kittens into the carrier.  
Steve sighs as he looks at the tiny bodies, all cuddled up and sleeping. He would've loved to go to sleep now too, but he wouldn't miss Stark's party for the life of him. It had been a while since he had seen Clint, and Bucky loved talking to Natasha.  
"Alright, let's go," Steve finally says, running a hand through his short cropped hair.  
Bucky nods, yet again, and follows Steve out the door. Bucky trudges along to the elevator, still embarrassed that he couldn't even do simplest task without screwing it up.  
Steve quickly catches onto his silence and stops walking down the hallway. Bucky runs into Steve, surprised by the abrupt stop.  
He confusedly looks up at Steve.  
"It's not that big of a deal, Buck," Steve says gently.  
Bucky blushes, eyes dropping to stare at the thick carpet.  
Steve slings an arm around Bucky's shoulder and Bucky slumps into Steve, sighing.  
"Pepper's going to be pissed," he mutters taking in Steve's warmth.  
Steve presses his cheek against Bucky's head, and Bucky feels Steve's mouth pull up into a smile.  
"Maybe, but she'd probably be more mad at me than you."  
"Yeah," Bucky agrees, pulling away, "She's always nicer to attractive people."  
Steve looks indignant but Bucky's already in a better mood and cuts him off and says, "Sorry, Stevie. Must suck going through life looking like that."  
Steve just rolls his eyes and walks into the elevator, and punches the button. Bucky's mood swings happened less often now, but they still made Steve worried whenever Bucky looked so helpless. One minute, he'd be messing around, and the next he'd look completely depressed with a bit of fear mixed in, as if he had done something wrong, before going back to his cheerful self.  
The elevator dings, and as he and Bucky get out, they walk straight into Pepper.  
Pepper stares up at Bucky, obviously realizing that Tony must've escaped without Bucky's notice. Pepper had ran into the living area after talking to Steve on the intercom, only to find that Tony was admiring the decorations. She'd been a bit peeved that Tony had found out about the party, but hiding something this big from a curious genius was pretty impossible, so she didn't mind that much anymore.  
"What happened?" she asks, and to Bucky's relief, she doesn't look angry or disappointed in him, just confused, "I know Tony escaped, but he was a bit blurry on the details..."  
"котята" he replies helplessly.  
Pepper just laughs and puts a hand on his metal shoulder.  
"Don't worry. I should've known Tony would figure out I was doing something. Oh well, Natasha and Clint will be here in half an hour," Pepper glances down at her watch and smooths her skirt.  
"Now, even if the party's not a surprise, you still have to come to it. It did technically start five minutes ago," she smiles.  
Bucky grins sheepishly and lets Steve take his hand and lead him upstairs to the living room. As soon as Bucky goes through the doorway, all he can see is hundreds of balloons. Red and gold balloons are tied securely onto weights all along the walls, leaving the middle of the room empty, except for the large table weighed down with candy, drinks, and a massive chocolate cake.  
Classic rock is playing in the background, quiet enough that you can talk in a normal voice, but loud enough to cover any potential silences. Pepper really is a genius.  
"How'd you do all this in three hours?" Bucky asks, clearly in awe.  
Pepper waves off the question with a flick of her wrist, "I have my ways."  
Bucky turns around as he hears a new set of footsteps coming towards them.  
Tony walks up to Pepper, and looks at Steve.  
"Yeah, um, future reference," Tony says smirking, "Don't use easily-bribed people as distractions."

**Author's Note:**

> котята=kitten (at least according to google translate)


End file.
